In Ubuntu 18.04 I have both HWE and non-HWE kernels installed. I only use the HWE kernel (5.0) and in the past I had removed the non-HWE kernel (4.15, both images and headers). However, after some updates I noticed that 4.15 got installed again. Note that after each kernel update I also use apt autoremove to remove the older kernel.
Why is the non-HWE kernel installed again? Can I completely uninstall it? How?
Below are the linux images installed on my pc:
$ dpkg --list | grep linux-image
rc linux-image-4.15.0-48-generic 4.15.0-48.51 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.15.0-50-generic 4.15.0-50.54 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.15.0-51-generic 4.15.0-51.55 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.15.0-52-generic 4.15.0-52.56 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.15.0-55-generic 4.15.0-55.60 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
ii linux-image-4.15.0-58-generic 4.15.0-58.64 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.18.0-15-generic 4.18.0-15.16~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.18.0-18-generic 4.18.0-18.19~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.18.0-20-generic 4.18.0-20.21~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.18.0-21-generic 4.18.0-21.22~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.18.0-22-generic 4.18.0-22.23~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.18.0-24-generic 4.18.0-24.25~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
rc linux-image-4.18.0-25-generic 4.18.0-25.26~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
ii linux-image-5.0.0-23-generic 5.0.0-23.24~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
ii linux-image-5.0.0-25-generic 5.0.0-25.26~18.04.1 amd64 Signed kernel image generic
ii linux-image-generic 4.15.0.58.60 amd64 Generic Linux kernel image
ii linux-image-generic-hwe-18.04 5.0.0.25.82 amd64 Generic Linux kernel image
And the headers:
$ dpkg --list | grep linux-headers
ii linux-headers-4.15.0-58 4.15.0-58.64 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 4.15.0
ii linux-headers-4.15.0-58-generic 4.15.0-58.64 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 4.15.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-5.0.0-23 5.0.0-23.24~18.04.1 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.0.0
ii linux-headers-5.0.0-23-generic 5.0.0-23.24~18.04.1 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.0.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-5.0.0-25 5.0.0-25.26~18.04.1 all Header files related to Linux kernel version 5.0.0
ii linux-headers-5.0.0-25-generic 5.0.0-25.26~18.04.1 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 5.0.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-headers-generic 4.15.0.58.60 amd64 Generic Linux kernel headers
ii linux-headers-generic-hwe-18.04 5.0.0.25.82 amd64 Generic Linux kernel headers
